B Reviews / Book ReviewsAsian characters / diversity / dysfunctional family / family relationships / gender-based violence / Ghost / god / homophobia / immigrant / lesbian / LGBTQIA / Malaysia / Paranormal / POC / POC author / prejudice / revenge / ViolenceNo Comments
A reluctant medium discovers the ties that bind can unleash a dangerous power in this compelling Malaysian-set contemporary fantasy. When Jessamyn Teoh starts hearing a voice in her head, she chalks it up to stress. Closeted, broke and jobless, she’s moving back to Malaysia with her parents – a country ... more >
B+ Reviews / Book Reviews / Recommended Reads#ownvoices / Asian Americans / Asian characters / black comedy / family relationships / mothers and daughters / POC / POC author / second chance romance / sisters / wedding9 Comments
What happens when you mix 1 (accidental) murder with 2 thousand wedding guests and then toss in a possible curse on 3 generations of an immigrant Chinese-Indonesian family? You get 4 meddling Asian aunties coming to the rescue! When Meddelin Chan ends up accidentally killing her blind date, her meddlesome ... more >
B Reviews / B+ Reviews / B- Reviews / Book Reviewsarranged-marriage / Asian characters / class-difference / historical romance / Historical-China / Lotus Palace series / mystery / POC / POC author / Reading lists / scholar / Tang Dynasty6 Comments
Several years ago I fell in love with Jeannie Lin’s Lotus Palace novels. Whether you consider them romances or mysteries (I think of them as romances), the setting, a pleasure quarter called the Pinkang Li, part of the Tang Dynasty capital, Chang’an, during the 840s CE, is beautifully rendered and ... more >
A- Reviews / Book Reviews / Recommended ReadsAsian characters / Fantasy / LGBTQIA / non binary / novella / POC / POC author / storytelling / The Singing Hills Cycle / tigersNo Comments
The cleric Chih finds themself and their companions at the mercy of a band of fierce tigers who ache with hunger. To stay alive until the mammoths can save them, Chih must unwind the intricate, layered story of the tiger and her scholar lover—a woman of courage, intelligence, and beauty—and ... more >
B- Reviews / Book ReviewsAsian characters / Chinese literature / dysfunctional family / fairy tale retelling / family relationships / Latina / lesbian / LGBTQIA / mythology / older MCs / POC / POC author / self discovery / transgender characterNo Comments
Rosa, also known as Red Riding Hood, is done with wolves and woods. Hou Yi the Archer is tired, and knows she’s past her prime. They would both rather just be retired, but that’s not what the world has ready for them. When deadly sunbirds begin to ravage the countryside, ... more >
B- Reviews / Book Reviews / C+ Reviews#ownvoices / Asian characters / Fantasy / found family / LGBTQIA / Malaysia / novella / POC / POC author / religion / Wuxia2 Comments
Zen Cho returns with a found family wuxia fantasy that combines the vibrancy of old school martial arts movies with characters drawn from the margins of history. A bandit walks into a coffeehouse, and it all goes downhill from there. Guet Imm, a young votary of the Order of the ... more >